Category: Summer

Welcome to week 12 of summer! Here we go…. entering the intertwining of seasons as we try to soak up the last bits of summer all while getting ready to jump into the activities and happenings of the next season.

We started one of those obvious signs of Fall… School… last Monday. So, I am trying to figure out the balance of teaching my first grader, and still these activities with my younger two and getting this shared with all of you! It’s all my priority… we’ll find a way!

Go on a nature walk. Take along a couple pieces of paper and crayons with the paper taken off. Find objects with interesting textures like concrete, wood, tree bark, rocks or pebbles, and leaves. Set the paper on top of the item. First, demonstrate how to create a rubbing by turning the crayon on its side and rubbing it back and forth. Point out to your child how the texture is showing through on the paper. Let them feel the object and talk about what the texture feels like (bumpy, scratchy, smooth, soft, etc.) then let them make a rubbing and observe the texture. For younger children you might need to help them push the crayon back and forth. Do this with several things and talk about how the textures for each object are different.

Hold a spoon with one hand. Place the golf ball on the large part of the spoon and demonstrate to your little one how it can balance if you keep it steady. Now, show them what happens with you tip it. It falls off. Let them try balancing the golf ball while walking around. Too easy for your older toddler? Let them try holding the golf ball on a smaller spoon or between a large pair of tongs.

What kids doesn’t love a tent. And tents are a big part of summer for some families. Why not set up a tent, inside or outside, but let you little one put their mind to work and figure out how to do it along with your occasional help. Ask questions that make them think, and offer suggestions to help them learn new ways of doing something. For younger children, you might have to do most of the work, but as the child gets older they will be more eager to have control over the tent building. Once it’s built spend some time in there, read some books or play with favorite toys.

Collect items from around the house that will sink and float. If your child is older they can help you collect objects and you can talk about what you each think will happen. Once you have collected the objects fill a tub or container with water to test each of the objects. One by one let your child put them in. Be descriptive about what is happening and ask a lot of questions, especially to your older child. Remember, even if they aren’t answering doesn’t mean they aren’t learning!

Stuff to Have

-Various objects that will sink in water

-Various objects that will float in water

-Tub or large plastic container of water

Developing Skills

Early math, early science

Cooking & Baking

“Shake-it-up “Homemade Ice Cream

How about one more summer hurrah… home made ice cream! A long time ago at a family gathering we all shook up our own ice cream in a zip lock bag surrounded by another zip lock bag full of ice. What a fun way to get your little one moving and shaking all while having a delicious treat to look forward too!

Now, it’s really important to me to give credit where credit is due and not share recipes that are not my own. A lot of recipes that I have shared on here I have tweaked and come up with myself, or they have been passed down to me and the original source is unknown. So, with that said, I do not have an ice cream recipe that I feel comfortable sharing. I think a quick google search or a flip through a cookbook will provide a lot of options for simple ice cream recipes that you can make!

Keep the plan of having your child shake up their ice cream in mind as you look for recipes. Once you have your mix made pour it into a quart size zip lock bag, about half full. Fill a gallon bag about half full with ice and a heavy dose of salt. Tightly seal the quart bag and place it into the gallon bag nestled into the ice. Now it’s ready to shake it up until the ice cream on the inside has frozen. You might want to wrap a hand towel around the bag to keep little fingers from getting too cold.

Developing Skills

Early math, early science, fine motor, large motor

Also, try to sprinkle in large muscle movement, reading, and music and rhymes in every day during the week. They are so important!

To get large muscle groups working you can do things like jumping, kicking or throwing a ball, dancing, twirling, running through a sprinkler… get creative and have fun doing this together. I think we will need to try and pull the sprinkler out a couple times this week before it gets too cold!

Get lot’s of reading in too. Read some of your favorites and mix in some new books from the library. Maybe look for books about camping, vacations, travel, fruits and vegetables that you are harvesting from your garden… Read the books, talk about the pictures, the colors, and what things are similar to your child’s world.

And don’t forget music and rhymes! Even if you don’t consider yourself musical try to have fun and include music and rhymes in your day, your kids aren’t judging you and there’s no one else listening! The sing songy-ness of music and rhymes is instrumental in literacy and language development (think future reading), plus it’s fun, it gets kids moving, and it can be a great way to change a rough day into a happy one!

The summer weeks are dwindling down, but we still have a few fun Summer activity plans to come! And, then we get to start the fall activities, which I think may have some of my favorite activities. Although, I might say that about each of the seasons! So, enjoy these last few summer weeks playing along with your child!

Art

Summer Trees

This is a chance to get hands dirty with modeling dough and creating something new! This a great sensory and fine motor combo- that also happens to be an art form! You can play along too, describing what you are doing as you create a tree, leaves, apples… however you want to make your tree. It will give your child an opportunity to learn how to grow their own play. Let them play with their playdough however they want, but describe the play and guide as you go. Their final product may not look like a tree (in fact it probably won’t), but you can use the opportunity to talk about what a tree looks like, what’s on top, what’s on bottom, what colors are in a tree, you could even talk about critters that live in a tree. It is an activity that is accomplishing fine motor and sensory components, but also helping children get one step closer to planfully playing and creating something new.

Set out your jar and ping pong balls (or similar small ball) and ask your child how to put the balls in the jar. Let your child try dropping the balls in. If your child is young or not interested, demonstrate to them how to drop the balls in. Can they get it out? If it’s too easy for your child, make it more difficult by trying to drop the ball in from a higher point. Or, try something different by dropping a smaller object into a container with a smaller opening.

Fishing pole: Make a small hole in one end of the paper towel role. Then, to attach the pipe cleaner, stick about an inch through the hole, bend the pipe cleaner over and tape the piece inside of the towel roll. On the other end of the pipe cleaner attach a strong magnet, or glue the tip of the pipe cleaner between two magnets.

Fish: On construction paper draw about a 3-inch circle or oval then add a triangle to one side to make the tail of the fish. Cut it out and add an eye and a line for the mouth. On the back of the fish glue a magnet.

Set-up: Set the fish out, magnet side up, on the floor, on a table, or in a shallow plastic container. Then your child can sit nearby and “fish” with their magnet fishing pole. This is a problem solving activity so you might start by asking how they can pick up the fish with their new pole. Let them experiment some and see if it works to pick up a fish. This might require a little help from you if they aren’t catching any, but once they start to pull up fish they will be excited to catch more!

Stuff to Have

-1 empty paper towel roll

-1 pipe cleaner

-Tape/glue

-6 magnets

-Construction paper fish

Developing Skills

Problem solving, follow through, fine motor

Early Science & Math

Melt an Ice Cube

Take your child outside, preferably a hot one to see the change happen quickly. Set your ice cubes in various locations and see how they melt. One could be on the sidewalk in the direct sun, one could be in the shade, and one could be left inside… be creative! Your older child may be able to describe the differences in the melting ice cube. Younger children might enjoy playing with the ice as it melts. Either way, ask questions, describe what you see, give your child a chance to make their own observations, and let them experience the changing ice cube by touching, splashing, maybe even tasting the melting ice.

Stuff to Have

Ice cubes

Developing Skills

Early science, sensory, fine motor

Cooking & Baking

Make one of your family favorites!

Every week I always end with talking about the importance of large muscle movement, reading, and singing! These are things that I try to sprinkle in every day during the week. They are so important!

To get large muscle groups working you can do things like jumping, kicking or throwing a ball, dancing, twirling, running through a sprinkler… get creative and have fun doing this together. I think we will need to try and pull the sprinkler out a couple times this week before it gets too cold!

Get lot’s of reading in too. Read some of your favorites and mix in some new books from the library. Read the books, talk about the pictures, the colors, and what things are similar to your child’s world.

And don’t forget music and rhymes! Even if you don’t consider yourself musical try to have fun and include music and rhymes in your day, your kids aren’t judging you and there’s no one else listening! The sing songy-ness of music and rhymes is instrumental in literacy and language development (think future reading), plus it’s fun, it gets kids moving, and it can be a great way to change a rough day into a happy one!

Toddlers and preschoolers are little scientists. They are constantly experimenting with objects around them, their own abilities, and their behavior. It’s almost like the question “What happens if I (insert behavior/action here)?” is on repeat in their heads.

“What happens if I put my hand in my cup full of water? What happens if I hit all the water that spilled onto the table with my hand?”

“What happens if I climb on the table? What happens if I jump off of the table?”

“What happens if I throw this ball? Now, what happens if I throw this block?”

“What happens if I stick this green bean up my nose?”

It’s true, toddlers and preschoolers come up with some terrible ideas, and while they aren’t actually thinking it through in the same language that I used up above, they are still curiously testing the world around them. It’s how they learn what works and what doesn’t.

I like to bring together activities that allow toddlers and preschoolers to do things outside of the box. We want them to explore, we want them to have opportunities to test their independence and creativity. I like this activity because it combines a pretty typical art activity, painting, with new objects to experiment with and explore.

So, set up just like you would for any other painting activity and then introduce your child to the concept of using the flowers and leaves you’ve collected to paint or stamp with them.

Let’s talk about what other things are going on in this activity:

Creativity and Independence: Just like I talk about in other art activity, it’s all about the process, not about the end product. So, in the case of the flower painting our focus is letting them experiment with this new “paint brush” let them see what they like the best, what works best, let them pick the colors and have freedom in creating their own picture. I think it’s fun to paint alongside them and talk about what you are doing, and provide ideas for them to add to their repertoire.

Fine motor: There are lot’s of opportunities in painting to use those tiny muscles in the forearm and hands which prepares them for future use, like writing and cutting!

Communication: When we expand on these experiences with our kids their communication abilities explode. In your conversing, connect colors, objects, and actions to what they are doing in this activity. Remember, little ones understand what you are saying to them long before they can express it themselves!

This month’s materials are really simple, and a lot of the activities are repeats so that makes it extra easy! Also, I reserve the last week of each season to fill in with your favorites from the last 12 weeks or your own special activities that you want to do. So, go ahead and fill in that space with what materials you will need to get ready.

I like to be totally ready before we start a paint project. So I prep the work space by laying down newspapers to keep the mess away and have a wet cloth handy. When you are set, let your child use the flowers (or celery tops) as paint brushes to create a painting. They can paint whatever they want. Younger children will experiment with the feelings of the paint and the “brushes.” Don’t be surprised if not much paint hits the paper, just be sure to help them avoid their mouths. Older toddlers and those nearing preschool might get more creative with what they paint. Keep in mind that there isn’t a certain way their painting should look, so give them freedom to try different methods and techniques on their own. Be there to facilitate, help when ask, and to create teaching opportunities.

Stuff to Have

-Construction paper

-Flowers and leaves (or celery tops; these will be used like paint brushes)

Hold a spoon with one hand. Place the golf ball on the large part of the spoon and demonstrate to your little one how it can balance if you keep it steady. Now, show them what happens with you tip it. It falls off. Let them try balancing the golf ball while walking around. Too easy for your older toddler? Let them try holding the golf ball on a smaller spoon or between a large pair of tongs.

Stuff to Have

-Cereal or soup spoon

-Golf balls (or similar size ball)

Developing Skills

Fine motor, hand-eye coordination

Sensory

Splash Time! Water Play

Every child loves water play, and playing outside in water is a natural option in the summer. It is also a great learning opportunity! Fill a small pool or a large shallow container with water, or use a hose attached to a gentle sprinkler. Not only is it a sensory activity, it is science (water properties), fine motor (playing with spoons, cups, etc.), math (volume and measuring), and of course one of the most fun things for kids! Capitalize on the chance to play in water by adding anything that will enhance their play and their learning. This could be plastic cups, bowls, spoons, ladles, colanders, sponges, etc. Be creative and have fun!

Set watermelon on a towel or in grass outside, this will be messy. This is a sensory and fine motor activity so let kids dig into the watermelon and have fun experiencing what it feels like. Plus, it’s healthy and safe to eat while exploring!

Stuff to Have

1 watermelon cut in half, or quartered (save other half for eating)

Spoons, scoops, bowls

Developing Skills

Fine motor, sensory, colors

Cooking & Baking

Watermelon treat

Use your leftover watermelon from “Explore a Watermelon” for a cool summer treat. Kids can use plastic knives to help cut into chunks.

Stuff to Have

Watermelon, cubed or in triangles

If you’ve been following along you know I always end with talking about the importance of large muscle movement, reading, and singing!

To get large muscle groups working you can do things like jumping, kicking or throwing a ball, dancing, twirling, running through a sprinkler… get creative and have fun doing this together. One of our favorites is chasing bubbles!

Get lot’s of reading in too. I’m sure you have a lot of favorite books, we do too! We also like to go to the library and pick up books that relate to what we are doing, and offer us something fresh and new from the books we have at home. Read the books, talk about the pictures, the colors, and what things are similar to your child’s world.

And don’t forget music and rhymes! Even if you don’t consider yourself musical try to have fun and include music and rhymes in your day, your kids aren’t judging you and there’s no one else listening! The sing songy-ness of music and rhymes is instrumental in literacy and language development (think future reading), plus it’s fun, it gets kids moving, and it can be a great way to change a rough day into a happy one!

This week is a mix of fruits and veggies and some old favorites from earlier this summer. Get creative and tailor each of these activities to make it interesting for your child. We will try and post our experience with each of the activities as we do them!

Art

Fruit & Veggie Stamps

Adult Prep: First, you need to get the fruits and vegetables into a “stamplike” shape. Cut carrots in half for a circle “stamp,” cut apples in half lengthwise or widthwise, or leave them whole and use the bottom “feet” of the apple as a stamp. The “stamps” need to be big enough to hold onto, but they also need to work to dip in a blob of paint and put on the paper. Get creative with the fruits and veggies that you use. Pick things that are familiar and also pick new types of fruits and veggies!

Have fun with your little one! There’s no right or wrong way to do this activity. Think about where your child is at, what they are learning, and what they are interested in. The littlest ones are forming the foundation of what they know about these foods, the paper, the paint, and the whole process… With any age you can talk about colors, shapes, and size. You can talk about the insides of the fruits and veggies. They are learning how they feel, the texture, the temperature… Their fingers and hands are learning how to hold them. What happens when they dip it in the paint? What happens when they put it on the paper? Each step of the way, they are forming concepts for what they are doing. Demonstrate a couple of times, or work alongside them giving them ideas for what they could do, but let them experiment with the fruits and veggies, paint, and paper. For older children you could even talk about what the shapes look like.

Stuff to Have

-Assorted fruits and veggies, choose fruits and veggies of different shapes and sizes, be creative!

Set out your jar and ping pong balls (or similar small ball) and ask your child how to put the balls in the jar. Let your child try dropping the balls in. If your child is young or not interested, demonstrate to them how to drop the balls in. Can they get it out? If it’s too easy for your child, make it more difficult by trying to drop the ball in from a higher point. Or, try something different by dropping a smaller object into a container with a smaller opening.

Play a game of hide and seek, only in this version hide a construction paper star for your child to find. For younger children keep it pretty easy, at their eye level and not too hidden. Also keep their level of mobility in mind. For older children, make it a little tougher, but not so much that they get frustrated. Children will love getting to use their problem solving skills to find the star. They will also love getting to take some turns hiding it from you!

Collect items from around the house that will sink and float. If your child is older they can help you collect objects and you can talk about what you each think will happen. Once you have collected the objects fill a tub or container with water to test each of the objects. One by one let your child put them in. Be descriptive about what is happening and ask a lot of questions, especially to your older child. Remember, even if they aren’t answering doesn’t mean they aren’t learning!

This is a great cooking activity for kids. A fun way to get some veggies in their diet, plus they can help patting the dough, pouring, mixing, spreading the sauce, and sprinkling on the vegetables.

Stuff to Have

1 package crescent rolls

8 oz greek yogurt

ranch dressing mix

various vegetables

Developing Skills

Fine motor, cooking, science

If you’ve been following along you know I always end with talking about the importance of large muscle movement, reading, and singing! Maybe someday soon I’ll get around to writing specifically about these and their importance. You know… when I’m not busy…

To get large muscle groups working you can do things like jumping, kicking or throwing a ball, dancing, twirling, running through a sprinkler… get creative and have fun doing this together.

Get lot’s of reading in too. I’m sure you have a lot of favorite books, we do too! We also like to go to the library and pick up books that relate to what we are doing, and offer us something fresh and new from the books we have at home. Read the books, talk about the pictures, the colors, and what things are similar to your child’s world.

And don’t forget music and rhymes! Even if you don’t consider yourself musical try to have fun and include music and rhymes in your day, your kids aren’t judging you and there’s no one else listening! The sing songy-ness of music and rhymes is instrumental in literacy and language development (think future reading), plus it’s fun, it gets kids moving, and it can be a great way to change a rough day into a happy one!

Today’s art activity was kind of momentous for us… almost six years ago I started putting together all of these activities in this planned, cohesive sort of way for my oldest when she was about 18 months old. And… today… I started doing the activities with my youngest, my third, and probablylast, little guy.

How is this craziness possible?!?

Now, while we’re on this topic… can I just say that I knew kids grew up fast- I mean doesn’t every mom with older kids stop you and tell you how fast it goes? If I had a dime for all those times…

Well, I had enough well-intentioned, experienced, and wise moms tell me how fast it went, that I actually tried to take heed, I tried to learn from them! And, yet I’m constantly blown away by how fast the time flies. Maybe there is some sort of psychological block in our little brains that we literally can’t process how fast it goes. I don’t know… it’s something for someone out there to study some day!

Ok, I promise my wild mom hypothesizing is done for now!

Since I was distracted by my littlest one finger painting for the first time, I did a terrible job documenting the activity with photos! Full disclosure I ended up just taking different angle shots of the final product! Hey… REAL. meaningful. family. Right? Some days we’re just happy we got any activities done at all!

I got the activity started by just squirting some dots of dark blue along the bottom third of the paper, light blue through the middle, and some dots of white along the top third. Then, when my little guy got going he smeared all of the colors together and it turned into a pretty cool variegated blue “ocean” swirl on the paper! Definitely frame worthy.

I love this activity because it gives kids total freedom to do what they want. Classic finger painting is a great sensory activity (and for that reason some kids may want nothing to do with it… that’s OK just give them a brush instead!), it is a great fine motor activity, it’s a great natural way to talk about colors and what happens when colors blend, and it’s a great way for your child to just experiment with their creativity and independence! So, pull out these materials and have fun together! I even pulled out a brush and painted along, it was pretty fun!

I can’t believe we are so far into summer! The weeks are flying by. Here is next week’s plan of activities. Last week we had a lot of camping activities, this week there are several ocean themed activities!

Art

Paint the Ocean

Give your child the freedom to experiment with finger paint. With this activity they can mix colors and completely explore painting with their hands and experience what happens on the paper. They can mix colors, they can smear it all over the paper, whatever they feel like. Guide them along the way. It’s our job to talk about what they are doing and describe what the real ocean looks like… maybe even looking at some pictures. If you want you can cut out fish from magazines or pictures to glue on after the paint had dried.

Hold a spoon with one hand. Place the golf ball on the large part of the spoon and demonstrate to your little one how it can balance if you keep it steady. Now, show them what happens with you tip it. It falls off. Let them try balancing the golf ball while walking around. Too easy for your older toddler? Let them try holding the golf ball on a smaller spoon or between a large pair of tongs.

Fishing pole: Make a small hole in one end of the paper towel role. Then, to attach the pipe cleaner, stick about an inch through the hole, bend the pipe cleaner over and tape the piece inside of the towel roll. On the other end of the pipe cleaner attach a strong magnet, or glue the tip of the pipe cleaner between two magnets.

Fish: On construction paper draw about a 3-inch circle or oval then add a triangle to one side to make the tail of the fish. Cut it out and add an eye and a line for the mouth. On the back of the fish glue a magnet.

Set-up: Set the fish out, magnet side up, on the floor, on a table, or in a shallow plastic container. Then your child can sit nearby and “fish” with their magnet fishing pole. This is a problem solving activity so you might start by asking how they can pick up the fish with their new pole. Let them experiment some and see if it works to pick up a fish. This might require a little help from you if they aren’t catching any, but once they start to pull up fish they will be excited to catch more!

Stuff to Have

-1 empty paper towel roll

-1 pipe cleaner

-Tape/glue

-6 magnets

-Construction paper fish

Developing Skills

Problem solving, follow through, fine motor

Science & Math

Fruits and Veggies

Comparing and classifying objects is an early math and science concept. For this activity collect various fruits and veggies of different sizes, shapes, textures, and colors. Let your child feel them smell them, and if they’re up to it they can even taste them! This is an activity to use all of their senses to discover how these fruits and veggies are the same and how they are different. For younger children this can be a type of sensory activity with lots of description from you about the sizes, shapes, and colors that they see.

Stuff to Have

Various fruits and vegetables

Developing Skills

Early science and math, fine motor, sensory

Cooking & Baking

Sand Pudding

Here is a fun beachy themed snack to make this week! Start by blending graham crackers and chocolate cracker in a food processor until it resembles sand. In a different bowl, whisk together pudding and milk until it begins to thicken, set aside. Combine butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Now, combine the pudding mixture with cream cheese & butter mixture. Finally, fold in cool whip to pudding mixture. Now to assemble, cover the bottom of dish with a layer of pudding mixture, then a layer of “sand.” Repeat layers until it is all used up. It can be assembled in individual dishes or in a large dish.

Stuff to Have

1 small box vanilla pudding

1 1/2 c milk

1 container cool whip

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 c butter, softened

9 graham crackers

1 chocolate graham cracker

Developing Skills

Cooking & baking, fine motor, early science and math

Along with these different activities make sure there is plenty of opportunity for large muscle movement, reading books, singing and rhyming every day.

To get large muscle groups working you can do things like jumping, kicking or throwing a ball, dancing, twirling, running through a sprinkler… get creative and have fun doing this together. Maybe you could walk like a crab and then have some sand pudding for a treat!

Get lot’s of reading in too. I’m sure you have a lot of favorite books, we do too! We also like to go to the library and pick up books that relate to what we are doing, and offer us something fresh and new from the books we have at home. Maybe this week you could pick stories about friends who go to the ocean or play at the beach! Read the books, talk about the pictures, the colors, and what things are similar to your child’s world.

And don’t forget music and rhymes! Even if you don’t consider yourself musical try to have fun and include music and rhymes in your day, your kids aren’t judging you and there’s no one else listening! The sing songy-ness of music and rhymes is instrumental in literacy and language development (think future reading), plus it’s fun, it gets kids moving, and it can be a great way to change a rough day into a happy one!

This week we have a little bit of a camping theme going! Making an art campfire, a scavenger hunt (with little ones in mind of course!), S’mores, building a tent… all such fun things to do together, getting all kinds of development and learning going!

This is almost as much a pretend play activity as it is an art activity. The point is for your child to have fun pretending to build up the logs inside the shoe box(glue together if needed) then glue in the red and orange tissue paper around the logs to look like the flames.

Hold a spoon with one hand. Place the golf ball on the large part of the spoon and demonstrate to your little one how it can balance if you keep it steady. Now, show them what happens with you tip it. It falls off. Let them try balancing the golf ball while walking around. Too easy for your older toddler? Let them try holding the golf ball on a smaller spoon or between a large pair of tongs.

What kids doesn’t love a tent. And tents are a big part of summer for some families. Why not set up a tent, inside or outside, but let you little one put their mind to work and figure out how to do it along with your occasional help. Ask questions that make them think, and offer suggestions to help them learn new ways of doing something. For younger children, you might have to do most of the work, but as the child gets older they will be more eager to have control over the tent building. Once it’s built spend some time in there, read some books or play with favorite toys.

Use my scavenger hunt list to find things on a nature walk or in the back yard! This is a good, natural time to talk about colors, numbers of objects, textures, shapes, and all the other characteristics of things we find outside.

S’mores for a treat rounds out the “camping” focus of this week! Find a way to make s’mores that works for you and your family. If you have a way to build a fire to roast marshmallows, and you feel comfortable with your little one under close supervision roasting their own marshmallow, go for it. Otherwise you can roast marshmallows over a grill, in an oven, or even for a couple seconds in the microwave. (If you aren’t going to roast them over a fire, you can pretend roast marshmallows over their art campfire to get the feel of camping). Once the marshmallow is roasted or heated through sandwich the chocolate and marshmallow into two haves of the graham cracker, give it a little squeeze and enjoy the chocolatey gooiness!

Stuff to Have

-1 graham cracker

-1 large marshmallow

-1/4 full size chocolate bar

Developing Skills

Fine motor, cooking

Along with these different activities make sure there is plenty of opportunity for large muscle movement, reading books, singing and rhyming every day.

To get large muscle groups working you can do things like jumping, kicking or throwing a ball, dancing, twirling, running through a sprinkler… get creative and have fun doing this together.

Get lot’s of reading in too. I’m sure you have a lot of favorite books, we do too! We also like to go to the library and pick up books that relate to what we are doing, and offer us something fresh and new from the books we have at home. Maybe this week since there are so many camping activities you could find some books where a favorite character goes camping. You could even get a big stack of books and read it in that cozy tent you are going to make! Read the books, talk about the pictures, the colors, and what things are similar to your child’s world.

And don’t forget music and rhymes! Don’t worry, you don’t have to be particularly musical to include music and rhymes in your day, your kids aren’t judging you and there’s no one else listening! The sing songy-ness of music and rhymes is instrumental in literacy and language development (think future reading), plus it’s fun, it gets kids moving, and it can be a great way to change a rough day into a happy one!

If you’re like me you get distracted by all of the adorable themed arts and crafts activities and forget about regular coloring and painting. Take this opportunity to let your child do whatever they want whether it is painting, drawing, coloring, molding with dough… see what they choose.

Hold a spoon with one hand. Place the golf ball on the large part of the spoon and demonstrate to your little one how it can balance if you keep it steady. Now, show them what happens with you tip it. It falls off. Let them try balancing the golf ball while walking around. Too easy for your older toddler? Let them try holding the golf ball on a smaller spoon or between a large pair of tongs.

Make 5 large fish in different colors of construction paper, and make 5 small fish to correspond to the colors of the large fish. This is an activity of matching. Matching the mommy fish to the baby fish based on color. Let your child play with how to match the fish together, all along describe what they are doing and what you are doing. If they enjoy matching, they can also sort by size, putting all of the big fish together and all of the little fish together.

Let your child choose 3 colors of food coloring. Talk about the names of the colors that they choose. Help your child squirt drops of food coloring into the cups of water- a color per cup- unless you are feeling really artistic and want to mix colors. (Adding these colors to the water cups is an activity in itself!) Use this opportunity to describe to them what is happening when the color goes into the water. Then give it a little swish with a spoon so that the color blends evenly. Now let your child (or help younger children) set 1 stalk of celery into each of the colored waters. Ask what they think is going to happen. Now, go play for a little while but periodically check back to see if any changes are happening. Each time have your child think or talk about what changes are going on in the celery. You should over time start to see the water being drawn up into the celery causing parts of it to take on the color that it is in.

Work together to blend the food coloring into the cream cheese. This will be the “grass” for the animals. Spread the green cream cheese on the graham cracker and let your child play with the animals on the “grass.” If they eat it right away, that’s ok too.

Stuff to Have

1 Graham cracker

1-2T cream cheese, dyed green with green food color

5 or 6 animal crackers

Makes 1 serving.

Developing Skills

Early math, early science, fine motor

Along with these different activities make sure there is plenty of opportunity for large muscle movement, reading books, singing and rhyming every day.

To get large muscle groups working you can do things like jumping, kicking or throwing a ball, dancing, twirling, running through a sprinkler… get creative and have fun doing this together. One fun activity is to pretend to be zoo animals, hop like a kangaroo, run like a cheetah, waddle like a penguin… then, go inside for a snack of Animals on grass!

Get lot’s of reading in too. I’m sure you have a lot of favorite books, we do too. We also like to go to the library and pick up books that relate to what we are doing. Look for books with stories about summer, swimming, camping, going to the beach, flying in an airplane, driving in a car, going to the zoo… whatever relates to your family’s summer. Read the books, talk about the pictures, the colors, and what things are similar to your child’s world.

And don’t forget music and rhymes! Don’t worry, you don’t have to be particularly musical to include music and rhymes in your day, your kids aren’t judging you and there’s no one else listening! The sing songy-ness of music and rhymes is instrumental in literacy and language development (think future reading), plus it’s fun, it gets kids moving, and it can be a great way to change a rough day into a happy one!